Sampling of Regolith on Asteroids Using Electrostatic Force
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 29, Issue 4
Abstract
The authors have developed an electrostatic force–based sampler to reliably and autonomously sample asteroid regolith. After applying a rectangular high voltage between parallel screen electrodes mounted at the lower end of a tube, the resultant electrostatic force acts on nearby regolith particles. Some agitated particles are captured when passing through the screen electrode openings and transported to a collection capsule through the tube. In a microgravity environment, effective particle sampling was expected because particle motions are not affected by the negligible gravitational force. The authors confirmed the sampler’s performance in a microgravity environment through numerical calculations and a model experiment. The calculation using the distinct element method predicted successful regolith capture, including conductive and insulative particles, under air and microgravity. The sampler shows much better performance in vacuum than in air. Lunar regolith simulant was sampled experimentally in a zero- environment reproduced by the parabolic flight of an aircraft. A large amount of simulant () containing small and large (diameter: ) particles was successfully collected.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors express their gratitude to Yuya Hashi, Kentaro Ashiba, Takumi Kojima, and Tomoki Sakata of Waseda University for their support in conducting the experiment. A part of this work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant No. 23360116. The parabolic flight was supplied by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
References
Abbas, M. M., Tankosic, D., Craven, P. D., Spann, J. F., LeClair, A. C., and Spann, J. F. (2010). “Lunar dust grain charging by electron impact: complex role of secondary electron emissions in space environments.” Astrophys. J., 718(2), 795–809.
Abbas, M. M., Tankosic, D., Craven, P. D., Spann, J. F., LeClair, A. C., and West, E. A. (2007). “Lunar dust charging by photoelectric emissions.” Planet. Space Sci., 55(7–8), 953–965.
Adachi, M., and Kawamoto, H. (2015). “Electrostatic dust shield system used for Lunar and Mars exploration equipment.” Trans. JSME, 81(821), 14-00224-14-00224 (in Japanese).
Bonitz, R. (2012). “The brush wheel sampler—A sampling device for small-body touch-and-go missions.” Aerosp. Conf. 2012 IEEE, IEEE, New York, 1–6.
Calle, C. I. (2011). “The electrostatic environments of Mars and the Moon.” J. Phys. Conf. Ser., 55(1), 953–965.
Eric, H. (2014). “Touch and go.” Science, 345(6196), 504–505.
Glassmeier, K. H., Boehnhardt, H., Koschny, D., Kührt, E., and Richter, I. (2007). “The Rosetta mission: Flying towards the origin of the solar system.” Space Sci. Rev., 128(1–4), 1–21.
Jones, T. B. (1995). Electromechanics of particles, Cambridge University Press, New York, 5–8.
Kanamori, H., Udagawa, S., Yoshida, T., Matsumoto, S., and Takagi, K. (1998). “Properties of lunar soil stimulant manufactured in Japan.” Proc., 6th Int. Conf. on Engineering, Construction and Operations in Space, ASCE, Reston, VA, 462–468.
Kawakubo, M., Morishita, H., Matsunaga, S., Okamoto, C., and Yano, H. (2009). “Examination of sampling mechanism for installing in the next asteroid explorer.” Space Engineering Conf. 2009, Vol. 16, Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), Tokyo, 29–34 (in Japanese).
Kawamoto, H. (2014). “Sampling of small regolith particles from asteroids utilizing alternative electrostatic field and electrostatic traveling wave.” J. Aerosp. Eng., 631–635.
Kawamoto, H., and Adachi, M. (2013). “Numerical simulation and direct observation of dynamics of toner and carrier particles in electrophotographic two-component magnetic brush development system.” J. Imag. Soc. Japan, 52(6), 547–554.
Kawamoto, H., Seki, K., and Kuromiya, N. (2006). “Mechanism of travelling-wave transport of particles.” J. Phys. D Appl. Phys., 39(6), 1249–1256.
Kawamoto, H., Uchiyama, M., Cooper, B. L., and McKay, D. S. (2011). “Mitigation of lunar dust on solar panels and optical elements utilizing electrostatic traveling-wave.” J. Electrostat., 69(4), 370–379.
Kuninaka, H., and Kawaguchi, J. (2011). “Lessons learned from round trip of HAYABUSA asteroid explorer in deep space.” Aerospace Conf. 2011 IEEE, IEEE, New York, 1–8.
Lauretta, D. S., and OSIRIS-REx Team. (2012). “An overview of the OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission.” 43rd Lunar and Planetary Science Conf., NASA, Washington, DC, 19–23.
Matunaga, S., et al. (2009). “Result of micro-gravity experiment using parabolic flight for tethered recovery in tethered sampling method.” Trans. Jap. Soc. Aeronaut. Space Sci., 7(26), Pk_23–Pk_28.
McKay, D. S., et al. (1991). “The lunar regolith.” Lunar sourcebook, G. Heiken, D. Vaniman, and B. M. French, eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K., 285–356.
Michel, P., et al. (2014). “Marcopolo-R: Near-earth asteroid sample return mission selected for the assessment study phase of the ESA program cosmic vision.” Acta Astronaut., 93, 530–538.
Morishita, H., Morii, S., Matsunaga, S., Yano, H., and Okamoto, C. (2011). “Study and evaluation experiments of adhesive based sampling system for the next minorbody exploration.” Space Engineering Conf. 2010, Vol. 19, Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), Tokyo, K2-1–K2-5 (in Japanese).
Noguchi, T., et al. (2011). “Incipient space weathering observed on the surface of Itokawa dust particles.” Science, 333(6046), 1121–1125.
Scheeres, D., et al. (2006). “The actual dynamical environment about Itokawa.” AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialists Conf., AIAA, Reston, VA, 2006–6661.
Snyder, S. J., Hintze, P. E., McFall, J. L., Buhler, C. R., Clements, J. S., and Calle, C. I. (2008). “Triboelectric charging of dust and its relation to organic degradation on Mars.” Proc., ESA Annual Meeting on Electrostatics, Electrostatics Society of America, Pomona, CA.
Sternovsky, Z., Robertson, S., Sickafoose, A., Colwell, J., and Horanyi, M. (2002). “Contact charging of lunar and Martian dust simulants.” J. Geophys. Res., 107(E11), 15-1–15-8.
Tsuchiyama, A., et al. (2011). “Three-dimensional structure of Hayabusa samples: Origin and evolution of Itokawa regolith.” Science, 333(6046), 1125–1128.
Tsuda, Y., Yoshikawa, M., Abe, M., Minamino, H., and Nakazawa, S. (2013). “System design of the Hayabusa 2—Asteroid sample return mission to 1999 JU3.” Acta Astronaut., 91, 356–362.
Watanabe, T., Fujii, H. A., Kojima, H., Takikawa, H., Yukizane, M., and Ito, K. (2009). “Micro gravity experiment and 3 dimensional dynamic analysis of tethered sampler.” Trans. Jap. Soc. Aeronaut. Space Sci., 7(26), Pk_17–Pk_22.
Yano, H., et al. (2006). “Touchdown of the Hayabusa spacecraft at the Muses Sea on Itokawa.” Science, 312(5778), 1350–1353.
Younse, P., et al. (2009). “Sample acquisition and caching using detachable scoops for Mars sample return.” IEEE Aerospace Conf., IEEE, New York.
Zacny, K., et al. (2013). “Anchoring and sample acquisition approaches in support of science, exploration, and in situ resource utilization.” Asteroids—Prospective energy and material resource, V. Badescu, ed., Springer, Berlin, 287–343.
Zacny, K., Chu, P., Davis, K., Paulsen, G., and Craff, J. (2014). “Mars 2020 sample acquisition and caching technologies and architectures.” IEEE Aerospace Conf., IEEE, New York.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 29 • Issue 4 • July 2016
Copyright
© 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 24, 2015
Accepted: Sep 28, 2015
Published online: Dec 30, 2015
Discussion open until: May 30, 2016
Published in print: Jul 1, 2016
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.